[ashtonkem]

I'd be a bit careful in ascribing too much meaning to the differences in music over the years. Remember that your parents probably said the same thing about your music, and their parents before them. We tend to lock in our favorite music in our late teens and early 20s, and while it's okay to have a preference it's kind of silly to ascribe immutable qualities of the music when it's probably just what you like.

Or, to paraphrase something pithy a former boss of mine said: they made the best music back when I was most emotionally vulnerable, and now it seems to have gone downhill since then.

[smichel17]

Ah-ha -- but I happen to listen to largely the same music as my parents, so I can safely conclude that music has indeed gone to shit with my generation!

...actually, this isn't true. The reason older music is often seen as better is that time has filtered out the generic crap with no staying power. And so I second the recommendation to check out older music; it's easier to find quality stuff. And, like watching a TV series after it finishes airing, when you find something you like, you don't have to wait to check out the rest of it.